Jackass Critics

Film and DVD Reviews.

Click review by Rosie

Click

In case youre ever unclear, here is the difference between you and Adam Sandler. When you go to Columbia Pictures with your idea about a TV remote control that controls the universe, a 60-year old guy wearing a short-sleeved, khaki shirt with a gold-trimmed star patch on it and a cheap imitation service dress cap says, Yeah, and I got a movie about a toaster that can pick the ponies, but aint neither of us gettin past this gate without a different ID. When Adam Sandler goes to Columbia Pictures with the same idea, half a dozen thirty-something year old, hundred-thousandaires have him flown in over the gate directly to a private helipad and say, Brilliant! Hows fifty million dollars sound? No, no, of course not, make it seventy!

The other difference between you and Sandler is that Sandler was able to take this idea and actually make it work. Click is a surprisingly heartfelt comedy that combines the patented baby talk and violence routine that made Adam a frat-hold name across America for the past decade with the emotive acting chops that hes been trying to cultivate here and there along the way.

Michael Newman (Sandler) is a young father and rising star in his architecture firm struggling to balance the growing responsibilities of both. One night after another argument with his obscenely hot wife (Kate Beckinsale) comes to a head, Newman goes out for a late night drive to cool off and ends up meeting the mysterious Morty (Christopher Walken). Morty offers him the chance to take control of his life with a mysterious and powerful universal remote. What first appears to be a lifesaver, helping Newman pause, fast-forward, and skip chapters in his life to get more done in less time soon turns out to be more like a life-shaver, cutting out all the little moments that he can never get back.

It would be easy to criticize this movie for its flimsy premise, blatant plagiarism of certain elements from predecessors such as A Christmas Carol or Its a Wonderful Life, or glaring logical gaps in explaining certain events, but its even easier to just admit that I liked it. I know its frowned-upon among film critics who think that they do something important in the world to say things like this, but the truth is that Adam Sandler is just plain likable and makes movies that are fun to watch. He just has that certain something that makes guys want to hang out with him, girls want to introduce him to their grandparents, and all kinds of cool-seeming Hollywood notables want to work with him. Its probably also because of this disarming charm of his that were all pretty willing to let him get away with all kinds of stuff that we would kill other actors for.

When Jim Carrey tries to position himself as an actor with dramatic range, we all roll our eyes and wish the Oscar voters would just go ahead and give him a Best Supporting Actor for something so that maybe hell get it out of his system and go back to playing wacky, rubber-faced gasbags. When Adam Sandler tries to play up his dramatic side, it just feels more like a sincere effort and we give him credit for not being afraid to expose the vulnerabilities of his talent for all the world to see. When young stars come to Hollywood and bring with them an army of hangers-on from the old neighborhood and put them all on the payroll in variously superfluous positions, HBO sees fodder ripe for satire. When Adam Sandler steadfastly continues to put all of his old buddies into his own movies, and even finances some of their own efforts for them with his new ridiculous wealth, we all find it refreshing to see a guy with so much fame staying so in touch with his roots. Hes the international icon that could do anything, anywhere, with anyone that, for some reason, we all kind of believe would still be the first guy in the water for a game of pool basketball at our 4th of July barbecue, if he happened to be there.

Of course, this could be the furthest thing from the truth. For all I know he could be an arrogant, dog-beating Yankees fan like all Yankees fans. But the perception is enough so that people are largely willing to forgive him his missteps along the way. Click has its problems, to be sure. Despite a noble effort to hide him under several inches of make-up and not even give him an official credit, Rob Schneiders unmistakable odor still manages to stink through in his brief, mandatory cameo. The ending is just a ridiculous cop-out, but not entirely disappointing only because there is nothing in the history of the world to indicate that a movie like this wouldnt have a happy ending. There were plenty of neat, little bright spots to point out, too. Hard-core Sandler fans will get a little inside laugh at the resurrection of the ODoyles in this movie, and Jonathan Lipnicki can finally go take that long drive off a short pier hes been considering now that Tatum McCann has arrived and definitively taken the title of cutest little kid in movie history, playing Sandlers 5 year-old daughter in this movie. And speaking of kids, Dustin Hoffmans kid plays Sandlers grown-up son in this movie. So thats something.

In the end, Click is everything that you would expect it to be and, pleasantly, a little more. Yankees suck.